The race for a county commission seat in northeast Washington's Pend Oreille County seems to center on one major issue, the possible siting of a controversial silicon smelter in Newport.
Mike Manus is a Republican incumbent commissioner in Pend Oreille County. He's served on the board since 2012. Manus says his major accomplishments include supporting the timber industry in an effort to boost employment, and his work on health care issues, sitting on the board of the organization Better Health Together.
But it is the issue of the proposed Pac West Silicon smelter that has become the major issue of this election.
Manus has worked with other state lawmakers to help the Canadian company find a location to build a plant in the county, if approved by regulators. He says the project would bring jobs to the economically depressed area.
“There would be 150 direct jobs, and there’s a five–to-one multiplier, so that’s another 750 jobs. Some of those would be businesses out of Spokane. The large majority would be in the local community,” he said.
He realizes that the county is divided over the idea, particularly over the potential environmental effects. He says he too worries about the impact such a smelter would bring to the region knowns for its lakes, mountains, and natural beauty. But he says if regulators sign off on the plan, it will be a good thing for the community.
"I support the smelter as long as it passes through the Department of Ecology," Manus said. "We asked Ecology to be the lead agency on this, because they have the expertise that we don’t in our small county. We also have asked the Department of Health to do a health impact assessment. And we asked for a weather monitoring station to be put on site so we have local data for the permitting process."
Some in the community say state and county leaders have not listened to their concerns that siting such an industrial plant in a rural community may be inappropriate.
One who shares that view is candidate Sheryl Miller, who is running as an independent. She says the public has had no real input on the smelter proposal.
“Lack of transparency, the back room deals, the good old boys club, and the citizens are just being cut out of the whole picture,” she said.
Miller, whose background includes management in the Flying J Corporation, claims there is evidence to indicate Manus and others worked to make sure the potential Newport site was chosen, as opposed to other less pristine locations, such as a former industrial site in the town of Addy.
“We have emails with Mr. Manus congratulating the manager of PUD for keeping it under wraps, emails sent to the other commissioners about keeping it on the down low and quiet. They purposely kept it quiet so the citizens did not know about it,” she said.
Manus responded by saying when courting a new potential business, you have to be cautious because that business doesn’t want all of its plans revealed immediately. He says he and other officials did not direct the smelter company specifically to Newport, but that several potential sites were looked at, including Addy, Ione, Metaline Falls, and Usk. He says the company preferred the Newport site because of power access, roads, and potential labor force.
The other candidate challenging the incumbent is Republican Jeff Pittman. He has a background in entertainment ticketing and a degree in finance and accounting. Pittman agrees the smelter is the number one issue in the race.
He says the industrial site is not a good fit for the town, and says there are other uncertainties that could prevent it from being built.
“What I’m seeing are little red flags in the process. I'm seeing Pac West saying we're going to get our water from here, but they can’t get their water from there. And they’re saying were going to put our effluent in the city of Newport system, yet they aren’t able to do that either,” Pittman said.
Commissioner Manus says he believes those issues will be overcome.
Pittman says he doesn’t think current county leaders have been asking enough critical questions about the smelter and its possible environmentalimpact on the community.
“I’m not so against the smelter, than let’s say, up in Metaline Falls, if those folks said we desperately want this smelter, and they could get access to legal water,” he said.
A recent survey by Robinson Research of 400 people in the area found that 39% indicated they oppose it, compared to 38% who indicated that they support it.
